Speaking incidentally, I may say that I would like to see special attention given during the year to a study of the material bearing upon the reputed voyages to these shores of the Irish missionary, Brendan. These voyages, attributed to a period many centuries preceding Christopher Columbus, appear to be fully as well authenticated as those of the Northmen to Vinland. Indeed, the Norse sagas mention remote Irish comers to these shores and duly credit a land here once known as Great Ireland. De Roo, in his recent work, the _History of America Before Columbus_, goes into this subject in a very entertaining manner. As a rule, our school text-books on history, while accepting implicitly the narratives relative to the Northmen and Vinland, find no room in their pages to even allude to Brendan and his voyages, although, as I have intimated, the latter seem to rest upon as secure an historical basis as the former. Mr. Justin Winsor and other distinguished writers, however, make special mention of the subject and treat the latter with respect. The history of the early Irish in Virginia is also deserving of our special attention. Irish names are found in the Old Dominion prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, while in the Plymouth colony itself, Governor Bradford tells us, numbers of Irish arrived a few years after the coming of the _Mayflower_. The war against the Indian king, Philip, 1675–’76, found Irish enlisted on the side of the colonists, showing that at that period sons of old Hibernia were numerous and active here. These and other early periods and movements furnish our Society ample material for consideration. As American history progresses, the material increases in volume and is greatly multiplied as the Revolution eventuates. But these facts are well known to you and require no lengthy narrative of detail on my part. I merely briefly refer to them in order, by way of review, to indicate the abundance of material awaiting development at our hands. I am delighted with the project now under way by the Society to erect a bronze tablet in the Rhode Island state capitol to the memory of Maj.-Gen. John Sullivan. The idea is a most felicitous one and deserves the heartiest commendation. Sullivan was one of the great soldiers of the Revolution. The placing of the forthcoming tablet will be a merited tribute to his patriotism and military skill while in command of the Rhode Island department and during the entire period of the war. There are many other great Americans of Irish blood who deserve like honors, and doubtless the Society will, from time to time, erect tablets to their memory or commemorate them in some other worthy manner. The suggestion that the occasion of the dedication of the Sullivan tablet be made a field day by the Society is a happy one, and will, I trust, be fully carried out.